Ephesians 4:1 - "...walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called"
Colossians 1:10 - "...walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing"
I Thessalonians 2:12 - "...walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory"
In all of the above passages of Scripture, we are told to WALK WORTHY...of our calling, of our Lord and of our God...that is a pretty tall order! Jesus Himself set "being worthy" as a priority of following Him: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me...he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37,38).
To begin with, to be worthy actually means to be weighty, to have substance...the more one has, the more one is worth. Therefore, to walk worthy of something or someone that has worth means to live in accordance with their worth, in agreement with and reflective of their worth.
So what is Jesus worth? If we put Jesus Christ in an old fashioned balancing scale, what would we have to put on the other side to bring up the scales to a balanced position? Walking worthy of the Lord means we are to bring up our side of the scales in accordance with His worth. What is He worth?
Obviously, to those of us who have been saved by Him, no list could be long enough to include everything which makes Him worthy; but we can begin with possibly the greatest ingredient of His worth. At least, it is this feature of Him that moves the saints in heaven to throw down their crowns and prostrate themselves before Him, singing "Worthy, worthy, worthy..." (Revelation 5:9).
In Revelation 5, we are allowed to go up with the Apostle John into heaven, where we find him weeping over a book of truth, full of the mind of God; and yet no one can be found who is worthy to break the seven seals that keep this "fountain" of the will of God closed. But he was soon comforted by one of the elders there, who told him that One had finally come forward who was worthy to open the book.
I find it interesting how things work in heaven. Everything is done with purpose and meaning, nothing done "just for the heck of it". And whoever does something in heaven must be worthy to do it because everything in heaven is worth something and thus requires corresponding worth. Even to the opening of this book, not just anyone could loose those seals and reveal its contents...only One worthy!
So John is told that the Lion of Judah, the Root of David "hath prevailed to open the book" (verse 5). Notice that someone had to "prevail" to gain the worth necessary for this task - someone had to succeed or win or prove themselves superior in some other deed in order to be worthy for this deed. And it was the Lion of Judah that prevailed!
Well, John was comforted that the book would be opened...that there would not be some part of God's will that would remain hidden. So he lifted his eyes to see the Lion that was worthy to open the book; but to his surprise, he saw, not a lion, but a Lamb! The elder said that the Lion had prevailed - but John's eyes saw a Lamb...and a most unusual Lamb!
This Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which we are told are the seven Spirits of God. Now obviously, we know that John is seeing Jesus Christ in symbolic picture-form, a common pracitce of God when desiring to reveal deep facets of His Son. John is seeing Jesus Christ, full of the Holy Ghost (seven meaning "fulness"). The eyes, in Biblical symbolism, refer to wisdom, discernment or spiritual perception; while the horns point to power, outright force and ability. Jesus had the fulness of the Holy Ghost in infinite wisdom and infinite power!
But He had that full capacity as the Lamb...and more especially as the Lamb that had been slain. What a paradox - what a seemingly contradictory situation - all that power in a meek and gentle Lamb...that was slain! And the scene of Him as a Lamb, taking the book, compelled all watching to fall down and sing "Thou art worthy" (verse 9)! And they even declare in the song why they ascribe worthiness to Him - because HE HAD BEEN SLAIN, which in turn redeemed all of those singing. That was the previous deed that he had prevailed in which qualified Him for this present deed of opening up the will of God in the book to be loosed in the world!
What is that then which makes up the worth of Jesus Christ? It is the weight of the grace and truth that he was full of (John 1:14), which was His by the fulness of the Holy Ghost, which He had because He loved not His own life...even unto death and to the fulfilling of the love of God. How shall we walk worthy of that?
John 14:17 - "Even the Spirit of truth...ye know Him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
Acts 1:8 - "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses (martyrs = one who testifies with his or her life what he or she believes) unto me..."
Hebrews 9:14 - "...who through the etrnal Spirit offered himself..."
The worth of our walk is based on the Spirit and His grace that we have received and the yieldedness we give to that Spirit. And the primary work of that Spirit is to "offer" us, similar to the "offering" of the Lord that Spirit brought Him to. That is real wisdom...that is real power!
I Corinthians 1:23,24 - "But we preach Christ crucified...the power of God and the wisdom of God."
LIVE CRUCIFIED and WALK WORTHY!
There just isn't another moment in time just like that moment. Such strong, loud broadcasting voice asking that question. Who is worthy? None in the universe could arise to that occasion, not one could even set their eyes up on the book. How that must horribly feel, to see God Almighty holding that book, and then to hear that question. As you say, It was, so on purpose. Like Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar asked, “ can’t the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show you?” Like when Elijah mocked Baal's prophets, "Cry louder, he may be having a conversation, maybe he is sleeping and need to be awakened."
ReplyDeleteBut here God lets everything stay on hold, and no Daniel, no Elijah, no Peter, no one in heaven, or earth, or under the earth. No one was found, but God let them look! Worse than when Adam heard God's voice calling out "where are you?" Worse because everyone comes absolutely short. John was utterly crushed - no doubt. Not any different though than what God does when he takes us all through the first 3 chapters of Romans, is it? That no flesh should glory in his presence!
But how phenomenal and wonderful when the Lamb appears as had been slain, and with authority goes up to God Almighty and takes the book! Everyone immediately with all in them sings - You are Worthy!
I get the feeling that John wept here, more than Peter did, when after he denied him and saw Jesus looking at him from the cross – though no doubt - that had to be bitter tears. So glad your preached this, one of my favorite verses is your opening verse.